Breathing Space

The freshman year got another boost this week when the Faculty voted to give lower-level courses the option of reading period. To anyone who takes seriously the idea of reading period this must be a welcome move.

When the Freshman Seminar Program was announced two years ago a concerted effort to improve the freshman year was launched. It continued last spring with an earnest search for a way to ease the transition from secondary-school milieux to the College. By recognizing now the freshman's ability to discipline himself through reading period, the Faculty has staked a bet on his maturity.

It is a well-placed bet. Presumably, the purpose of suspending classes two weeks before exams is to permit review and consolidation of the preceding term's work. Certainly the freshman, taking 4 1/2 courses plus PT, is entitled to this much faith. In answer to recurrent fears that the gift will promote vacation attitudes, it is enough to assume that few freshmen are cocky enough about their standing to take the risk.

If they do, of course, the decision can always be reversed. But the bet is still justified, and only a single objection holds any water at all. That is the complaint of the Gen Ed courses that they must now further compress already-crowded course schedules to cover the material under their rubrics. Where this proves impossible or detrimental, the optional wording of the Faculty's decision can be invoked, and the course can elect to run straight through till exams--as in fact many upper-level courses do.

In the meantime, while the experiment is in progress, it should be easier to attract hard pressed and qualified Faculty members to teach 12-week courses.

Hopefully, the Faculty will win its bet.